


The Burning Passion Became Ash

by Galexyi



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:33:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galexyi/pseuds/Galexyi
Summary: Were the eyes watching him real or a figment of his imagination? What awaits him when the elevator door opens next? Why was he here? Where was he?Kuroko Tetsuya. Who are you?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

He opened his eyes. It was deadly silent.

The white of the walls filled his vision. It was blinding and overwhelming. He blinked several times before his eyes could get used to it. The chair beneath him was made of solid wood and squeaked as he got off it.

The room was empty apart from him and the lone chair.

Sound was absent from the air. No other furniture, no paintings, no windows and certainly no other person. There wasn’t even a single streak or spot on the walls. He noticed a wooden door behind him. His footsteps sounded louder than usual as he took a single step. He could almost hear his own heartbeat.

He couldn’t remember.

Where was he? Why was he in this room? Who was he? There was a buzzing within his mind. Something untouchable, unattainable.

He took another step. And could vividly feel the sharp gaze trained on him. He spun around, his eyes widened and breathing laboured.

Nothing but the stark white walls came into vision. The gaze trained on him lingered, casting a chill down his spine.

The wooden door creaked beneath his hands as he pushed it open. And he recoiled.

A full-length mirror was hanging on the wall right opposite of the doorway, giving him a clear view of his reflection in the mirror. Bright blue eyes stared back at him with a cold, dead look. Wisps of baby blue hair, appearing almost as soft as feathers nestled upon his scalp. His clothes were of crisp white, a thick woollen sweater and a pair of sweatpants. White running shoes were on his feet.

A white slate with flakes of blue.

He forced himself to tear his gaze away from the mirror. White walls continued endlessly on both sides of the mirror, stretching towards a dark beyond. The overhead lights dimly illuminated the paths ahead, making it impossible to see what lies at the end of each path.

No omen or sign will befall him even if he continued waiting in his spot. He needed to get a move on, needed to get away. He picked the path on the right.

But was it the right path?

It was still the path he had chosen. His thoughts strayed to the path not chosen as he continued down the path of his choice.

The darkness continued to remain out of his reach. He walked on, counting his steps. Fifty steps… a hundred steps… a thousand steps…

A glimmer broke through the darkness and he hastened his steps towards it. Only for the glimmer of hope to shatter as he recognized the familiar object hanging in front of him. His reflection glared reproachfully at him. It seemed that he had accomplished nothing and only ended up walking in a circle.

The door which he had pushed open earlier was still ajar and his intuition told him to take a peek. He obeyed his instinct, hovering just beyond the doorway to glance into the room.

The chair was gone.

Shock and disbelief clouded his rationale as he dashed into the room, searching for the missing article.

Not even a hint of the chair’s existence remained. It had vanished into thin air, leaving behind an untouched white void. Or had the void swallowed up the chair whole, not leaving any traces of it?

He heard a small scratching noise from behind. It was so soft and so brief that he barely heard it over his loud, panicking mind. He turned around.

Words in black, written in elegant script, had appeared on the surface of the mirror.

_Kuroko Tetsuya. Who are you?_

This time, it was a loud creaking sound that had him flinching.

He turned around yet again. The room had melted away and was replaced by a huge elevator. The metal doors of the elevator towered over him. The words _B6_ were printed on the walls on one side of the elevator.

There were no buttons to press so he tried to pry open the doors of the elevator with his hands. It yielded no results. He looked around for any clues or objects that could help him to get the doors of the elevator open.

In that empty and desolate passageway, only him, his reflection and the doors of the elevator stood around.

His attention wandered back to the words etching his name on the mirror. Distracted by the appearance of the elevator, he hadn’t gotten to examine it. On closer observation, the words glistened beneath the illumination of the light, almost as though the unknown liquid used to print his name had not dried yet. Transfixed, he reached out with his index finger towards the letters.

His world tilted on its axis. Lights spun within his mind. He blinked once.

His index finger met the cool surface of the mirror. The words had vanished. Inside the mirror, the doors of the elevator had slowly pulled apart, engulfing him in glaring white light. Behind him, the sound of the elevator whirring to life was clearly audible.

Three steps carried him to the front of the elevator. The doors were open.

The interior of the elevator matched its exterior, shiny and metallic on the surface. A small brown satchel sat in the middle of the elevator. He recognized it and rushed forward to pick it up.

The weight of the leather satchel was familiar in his hands. Opening it, he scanned the contents of the bag, satisfied that everything was in its place. As he slung the bag over his left shoulder, the heavy metal doors slammed shut.

A red arrow blinked from the LED display above the elevator doors. It pointed upwards towards their destination. The quiet hum of the elevator motors filled his ears as the elevator continued its journey.

Seconds, minutes or hours could have passed. There was no clock and he didn’t have a watch. He had nothing to mark the passing of time from the moment he stepped into the elevator until the moment when the hum of the elevator motors faded away.

The doors of the elevator opened again.


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroko stepped out of the elevator, eyes alert and guard up.

In the abrupt silence that followed the opening of the elevator doors, he half-expected something to leap out at him in the dark. Was it his fear that had conjured the haggard breathing he heard? Were the eyes fixed on him still a mere figment of his imagination?

Nothing leapt out at him. He was surprised at the ordinary appearance of his surroundings.

Tables and chairs were arranged within the classroom to precision. Not even an inch out of place. He walked towards the front of the classroom where the blackboard was. Unlike everything else which seemed perfect and untouched, bits of chalk remained on the blackboard.

As he stood in front of the blackboard, he could make out the faint outlines of words. It was almost as though someone had tried to hastily erase all the words on the board before he arrived. He could vaguely make out the letters of his name but the remaining scribbles were a mystery to him.

He took a few steps back, examining the classroom with interest. His fingers trailed over the smooth, unmarred surface of the wooden desks as he walked through the classroom. On the windowsill, a white porcelain vase held a single stalk of chrysanthemum. A few white petals lay lifelessly on the ground. After wandering through the classroom for several more moments, he was satisfied that nothing more could be gained from this particular place.

Stepping through the classroom door, he walked through the corridors. He peeked into every classroom that he walked past, blue eyes scanning for anything out of place but finding nothing. Except for the elevator that delivered him to the first classroom, all the other classrooms appeared exactly alike. It was almost as though they were copies of each other, every fine detail duplicated perfectly, even the white petals strewn beneath the window.

The sky beyond the windows was of an azure blue, a blank slate with not a single cloud in sight.

As he continued walking down the corridor, a streak of orange came right at him. It narrowly missed his face, flying past him and crashing into the wall. The object rebounded against the wall several times before losing speed and rolling to a stop in front of him. He picked up the basketball.

It felt warm against his palms, the surface of the ball worn out from use. He followed the direction where the ball had appeared from, finding flights of stairs that led downwards. He hugged the basketball to his body.

As he navigated his way down the stairs, he could hear the squeaking of shoes against a polished hardwood floor. A loud squeak, as though the person in question had made an abrupt turn. He had already walked down four flights of stairs, gradually drawing closer to the intriguing sounds.

A loud thump, a leap into the air perhaps? The sound of a basketball dribbled across the court, a pause and then a swooshing sound before the basketball dropped to the floor, bouncing several times before it was picked up again. Why was the image so clear in his head?

Three more flights and he reached the bottom of the stairway. His shoes squeaked as it made contact with the hardwood floor. Basketballs were scattered around the court. He glanced at them, noticing that they were of similar condition to the one in his hands.

It was odd that he had failed to notice the other figure on the court, given how imposing the other person was. That flame-red hair should have been the first thing he noticed. Whoever the other person was, he seemed to have his full attention preoccupied with his basketball training, not even sparing a glance in Kuroko’s direction.

Kuroko hesitated, wondering if he should interrupt the other’s training. Politeness had been ingrained into him since a young age so he decided against it, standing on one side of the court to watch. His gaze followed the male’s swift movements, agile jumps and powerful dunks.

The male seemed to have limitless stamina; his training appeared never-ending. But all things must come to an end and he halted, tossing the ball aside. It rolled towards the other basketballs dispersed around the court. He brushed away the sweat from his face using the back of his hand, inhaling deeply as he walked to the other side of the court. Kuroko followed.

There was a bottle of water placed against the wall which was picked up and guzzled down. How rude of the other to simply ignore Kuroko. Kuroko approached, inching closer to him.

“Excuse me.”

Water sprayed onto the floor amidst a choked cry of surprise. The redhead whirled around, eyes wide and panicked. “Where did you come from?!”

“You made a mess. You should clean it up,” Kuroko commented, eyeing the puddle of water on the floor.

“It was your fault for coming out of nowhere!” The male bellowed. “It- It’ll dry up soon enough.”

“You should really clean it up before you slip on it. I’m Kuroko Tetsuya.”

“I’m- Wait a minute! Who are you and why are you here? You’re not supposed to be here. Nobody is supposed to be here besides me.”

“I’m Kuroko Tetsuya. You really should listen when others are talking.”

“That’s not what I meant!” The redhead ran his hands through his hair, tugging on it in frustration.

“You know, it’s rude to not introduce yourself after someone else has introduced themselves.”

“I’m Kagami Taiga and you still haven’t answered my question! How did you get here?!”

“I took the elevator.”

Bushy eyebrows furrowed together as Kagami processed Kuroko’s words. His expression smoothened out as realization seemed to dawn upon him.

“You must be a sacrifice then.”

“A sacrifice? What’s that?”

“I guess you can’t remember either…” A sad smile found its way onto Kagami’s lips. “I only remember bits after she came to me.”

They stood facing each other, close enough that Kuroko could reach out and grab onto Kagami’s shirt sleeve. But why is it that there was an imposing distance between them?

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/galexyii)


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